OWS: How dare you?

It is a question that often comes up after High Holy Day sermons: How dare you?

How dare you...

• ask for money from the bima?
• say I'm not a good person unless I come to temple more?
• take a position on the war/budget/environment/president/congress/supreme court case/anything?
• not take a position on the war/budget/environment/president/congress/supreme court case/anything?

And this year, how dare you speak in support of Occupy Wall Street (DC, etc.) and attach Judaism or the temple's name to it?

I have the chutzpah to believe that I'm right (and have the right) about the things I say from the bima.  I also have the chutzpah to believe that anyone who listens has the right - and is right - to ask for more explanation, even if it comes in the form, "How dare you..."

OWS - Occupy Wall Street - is a fitting and appropriate object for Jewish and Temple Sinai support for many reasons.

First, the outrage against economic injustice is classically prophetic.  Just look at the Yom Kippur haftarah reading (Isaiah 58) or Micah or Jeremiah or any other biblical prophet.  They all rail against economic injustice, fraud and abuses of power (and none of them had specific policy proposals, just outrage and critique).  Also, protesting the gap between rich and poor is officially a Refom Jewish position.  Just look at the current Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism: "We are obligated to pursue tzedek, justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor ... and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage.  In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice."  Obligated.  One could argue (incorrectly) that OWS is not really about economic injustice or - as one critic directly tried to tell me, "has nothing to do with the gap between affluent and poor."  But you can not honestly claim that we've gone off the deep end in seeing OWS as an expression of those feelings. Friedman's article is only one of the dozens that describes reasonable cause for outrage. "It  doesn’t get any more immoral than this [Citibank's fraudulent trades in subprime mortgage backed CDOs]....  Our Congress today is a forum for legalized bribery."  Even Citibank's CEO and other finance executives admit some legitimacy to the protests. If Vikram Pandit can say it, so can we.

Second, supporting the overtly Jewish rituals and study sessions at the Occupy locations is what we are supposed to do.  Our basic purpose is to support the study of Torah and observance of Jewish traditions. I mean that literally, our mission says: "Temple Sinai is a center for those who seek to develop and enhance their Jewish identity through worship of God, ritual life, education, social action, concern for the State of Israel, and communal involvement, with an emphasis on the enduring Jewish values expressed by the Reform Movement."  You might judge the participants in OWS negatively, but you can not claim that a few hundred people showing up for Kol Nidre services and building a sukkah with daily Torah study in McPherson Square is not worship of God, ritual life, education, social action... (read a Forward editorial about Occupy Judaism.)

Finally, this is what our congregation has asked of us.  We are following the guidance of our massive long range planning effort, Sinai at Sixty.  Among the directions to emerge from that effort is a desire to re-energize social action and to be a national leader.  Of the six priorities in the study, one clearly states that we will, "Strive to be a National Leader.... This theme reflects our desire to build on the talents of our members, many of whom are leaders in Washington, and on our history as a congregation, to be recognized nationally as a place for Jewish thought, social action, inspired teaching, creative worship and a bonded community."  How, you might ask, is participation in OWS, helping with this goal?  Again, I turned to the long range plan, which identified three core values, one of which was "Tikkun Olam – by linking Jewish spirituality and ethics to action through promoting social justice and – taking advantage of our location in the nation’s capital – having a positive impact on our community and the world in which we live."  Our location in DC, the guidance to be involved with current events ("the world in which we live") and instruction to link tikkun olam with spirituality are among the principles that lead us to OWS.

On the ark of the Bet Am is a quote from Pirke Avot, "By three things the world is sustained - justice, truth and peace."  We do not condone violence, law breaking, antisemitism, or hatred.  We just want to strengthen the three pillars of the world.  What's more appropriate for Yom Kippur than that?